{"id":103,"date":"2019-12-30T16:40:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T16:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2020-04-22T02:49:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T02:49:03","slug":"group-2-sub-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/group-2\/group-2-sub-1\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Bycatch?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bycatch is defined as unwanted fish and other marine species caught during marine fishing intended for a different species.\u00a0 Species of all types are affected by this, including turtles, dolphins, porpoises, and sharks, among others. The process of being caught can kill these species directly, or after being released again, they are often injured or too weak to survive. Even when regarding fish that would ha<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ve been commercially viable, many times they are caught and discarded due because they are too young and too small. As a result, they typically do not survive either. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-508 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-300x205.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"471\" height=\"322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-300x205.png 300w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-1024x699.png 1024w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-768x524.png 768w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info.png 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The current U.S. laws about fisheries try to address this issue, as some regulations have been put in place.\u00a0 The official guidelines are described here:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWild-capture marine fisheries in the United States are conducted under science-based fishery management plans developed by regional fishery management councils through an open, public process, and using the best scientific information available. By law, U.S. seafood must be caught according to fishery management plans that:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Consider social and economic outcomes for fishing communities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prevent overfishing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rebuild depleted stocks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Minimize bycatch and interactions with protected species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-510 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-2-300x173.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"568\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-2-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-2-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2020\/04\/bycatch-info-2.png 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The official fishery guidelines say the following about bycatch:<br \/>\n\u201cConservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (a) minimize bycatch and (b) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While this is a positive step the U.S. is taking, these guidelines have not mitigated the issue of bycatch to the degree it should be. It is best to find seafood from places that go above these regular and vague requirements.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, there are steps that can be taken to put an end to bycatch. Sustainable fisheries ensure they prevent bycatch as much as possible, so sponsoring them by purchasing their seafood puts pressure on regular fisheries to adopt anti-bycatch practices as well. Typically, this consists of adopting fishing tactics that are more selective in nature. Longlines can stretch for miles, so changing the length of these fishing devices can lessen the amount on non-target species caught, as can changing the size and shape of hooks and bait.<\/p>\n<p>It is crucial we support sustainable fisheries by purchasing responsibly sourced seafood.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Images from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/reefci.com\/2018\/02\/16\/overfishing-what-is-bycatch\/\">https:\/\/reefci.com\/2018\/02\/16\/overfishing-what-is-bycatch\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.fr\/pin\/426364289696686148\/\">https:\/\/www.pinterest.fr\/pin\/426364289696686148\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bycatch is defined as unwanted fish and other marine species caught during marine fishing intended for a different species.\u00a0 Species of all types are affected by this, including turtles, dolphins, porpoises, and sharks, among others. The process of being caught can kill these species directly, or after being released again, they are often injured or <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/group-2\/group-2-sub-1\/\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"parent":24,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-103","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":931,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions\/931"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/healthy-oceans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}